Government shouldn’t be allowed to meddle in urgent question process

The Presiding Officer should not allow the Welsh Government to meddle with the Urgent Question process in the Assembly, Kirsty Williams AM has said today.

In a reply to a letter from Kirsty Williams and the other three Assembly party leaders requesting clarification of the Urgent Question process, Rosemary Butler stated that “government advice is sought to inform the decision” on whether or not a question is accepted.

Kirsty Williams AM, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said:

“People quite rightly expect this process to be open and transparent, and I’m glad that the Presiding Officer has finally shed some light on the criteria used to accept urgent questions.

“However it's outrageous that advice from Government Ministers is taken into account when making decisions on this issue. In this modern, open and transparent democracy we’re meant to be forging in Wales, I can’t see how this is at all acceptable.

“Allowing Ministers a say in which questions are chosen to scrutinise them completely undermines the principle of open democracy. Labour Ministers shouldn’t be allowed to meddle in this process and the Presiding Officer needs to remove this criteria from the process immediately.”

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